Zero Stars & Euro NCAP

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Life is short.

With a little bit of luck each and everyone of us will reach old old and certainly by good luck/chance. Sadly some get struck down before they ware.

Safety testing is a valid science BUT the application of science to every day relevance requires a greater skill than just pure test numbers.

It is a fact that I/you could design a given test that ALL cars would fail. Testing / standards agencies wil alsways be pushing forwards in their requirements. I don't have an issue with this basic trend/philosophy but one has to think about real life, statistical, etc. occurrence profiles. For example in 100 real life crashes how many were oblique offside/nearside events at +40mph?

I don't know the answer to this. But I do know that x years ago many cars were rated 5* that now might rate 1*. YET in the UK our road speeds (legal or otherwise) have not increased so the likelihood of a given crash scenario if not that far different to what it was 10 or 20 years ago.

This presents a problem for buyers and manufactures alike. Do you chase the golden egg or just step back, be realistic and take what may come your way.

I would be more than happy to buy a modern Fiat Pander. "F" what Euro NCAP say.

If you had to buy a vehicle that was NCAP 5*, super ECO, super this, super that, etc. then you will no find one. You would be better off buying a Dinky Toy and driving that around the living room!

You strike a chord with me here S130. This thread has made me consider what I look at when buying a car and it's surprised me a little to realize that these NCAP ratings have very little part in my choice. How the car drives. How easy it's going to be to repair, How expensive parts are going to be and are they readily available, Does it have a bad reputation for corrosion? etc, etc, are the sort of things I consider important. Perhaps if the car were universally condemned to the extent that the Corvair was then I might be influenced by it's "bad press".

 

[DaveMcT]

My beef is that manufacturers are pushed to build cars with ever more goodies that might provide some safety improvement. But bolt-ons like air bags are only part of the story. Stuff like hill holders are frankly gimmicks, but they are cheap to add (ABS software) so regardless of any real world benefit we have to endure them and the reliability issues when they inevitably go wrong.